The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) sued the State of Nicaragua, controlled by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR-Court), for the imprisonment, conviction and confiscation of assets under obscure judicial actions of the citizen US Jason Puracal, imprisoned in November 2010 and released until September 14, 2012.
«The Commission requests the Honorable Court to conclude and declare that the Nicaraguan State is responsible for the violation of the rights to personal integrity and freedom, judicial guarantees, honor and dignity, private property, freedom of movement and residence and judicial protection, established in articles 5, 7, 8, 11, 21, 22 and 25 of the American Convention, in relation to articles 1.1 and 2 of the same instrument in the terms indicated above, and failed to observe the obligations provided for in article 6 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, to the detriment of Jason Puracal and his family,” the IACHR charges.
Through an extensive report, The humanitarian organization indicated that due to the lack of justification for Puracal’s arrest, His imprisonment was illegal. The IACHR considered that “the victim was not informed about the reasons for his detention and that the State did not provide information that would allow us to conclude that Mr. Puracal was notified of his right to communicate with a consular official of his country in order to seek the recognized assistance.
The Commission observed that “during Mr. Puracal’s stay in the “El Chipote” prison, personal integrity was affected and he suffered cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. “The State did not indicate that an exhaustive investigation of these circumstances was being carried out, to which are added the particular conditions of Mr. Puracal’s detention, as he is a person detained arbitrarily and foreign.”
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The IACHR denounced that Puracal remained 22 months deprived of liberty and suffered from “overcrowding, lack of access to drinking water and did not have sufficient access to sunlight.” «The victim, his family and his lawyer informed the different prison, judicial and executive authorities of the situation in which Mr. Puracal was detained, however, the State did not provide elements that would demonstrate the opening of an investigation that would clarify the facts,” the organization added.
For these reasons, the Commission determined that the State “did not guarantee the right to be informed about his right to consular assistance because he was a foreign citizen, the duration of the criminal process was contrary to the guarantee of a reasonable time, the restrictions on communication with his lawyer did not allow him to exercise his right to have adequate means for defense and the State has not investigated, tried or punished those responsible for the cruel treatment to which Puracal was subjected.
Given these accusations, the IACHR asks the Inter-American Court to order the Ortega dictatorship to “comprehensively repair the human rights violations, adopt measures of economic compensation and satisfaction,” as well as “physical and mental health care necessary for the rehabilitation of Jason Puracal, if it is his will and in a concerted manner.
The international organization established that the Nicaraguan regime must “carry out a serious, diligent and effective investigation, within a reasonable period of time, to clarify the facts, identify those responsible and impose the appropriate sanctions.”
The Commission also asks the Court to order various reparations, the return of Puracal’s properties, structural measures and reforms to the legislation regarding preventive detention in Nicaragua, as well as the invitation to adopt measures to prevent acts of torture by security forces. and agents of penitentiary centers in the country.
Puracal arrest
Puracal first arrived in Nicaragua in 2002, as a member of the Peace Corps (Peace Corps, in the United States), an international humanitarian organization that helps other nations through volunteers trained in health, education, business and agriculture. The foreigner decided to stay in the country and established a real estate company in San Juan del Sur, in Rivas.
On November 11, 2010, Puracal, 33 years old at the time, was in his office when he was raided by the Police. The officials seized Mr. Puracal’s assets and proceeded to arrest him, and later broke into his home, without a court order.
Two days later, in the Rivas Criminal Hearing District, Puracal was accused of the crimes of “organized crime, transportation of narcotics, psychotropic drugs and controlled substances in international form, money laundering, property and assets.”
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Puracal was transferred to the Rivas prison, then to El Chipote and finally to “La Modelo”, on November 17, 2010. The American, originally from Washington DC, was placed in a dark and dirty individual cell, without access to natural light, without clothing or bed linen.
On September 14, 2012, the Directorate of Immigration and Immigration ordered the deportation of Jason Puracal “on the grounds that he constitutes a danger to citizen security and public order and the State reserves the right to not allow his entry into the country.” the violations of his physical integrity and human rights that he suffered during prison went unpunished.
